The American commander, who did not
know what to make of such conduct, asked him who he was? He replied:
'I am assistant-surgeon in the 71st regiment. Many of the men are
wounded, and in your hands. I come, therefore, to offer my services
in attending them.' He was accordingly sent to the rear as a
prisoner; but was well treated, and spent the first night of his
captivity in dressing his soldiers' wounds, taking off his shirt,
and tearing it up into bandages for the purpose. He afterwards did
the same good office for the American sufferers; and when the
wounded English could be exchanged, Washington sent him back, not
only without exchange, but even without requiring his parole. At a
subsequent period during the same unhappy war, when the British
under Lord Cornwallis were in full retreat, the sick and wounded
were placed in a building which the colonists, on their approach,
began to riddle with shot. Several surgeons, not caring to incur the
risk of entering so exposed an edifice, agreed to cast lots who
should go in and see to the invalids; but Jackson, with
characteristic nerve and simplicity, at once stepped forward: 'No,
no,' said he, 'I will go and attend to the men!' He did so, and
returned unhurt.
After this we find him a prisoner in the hands of the Americans and
French at New York Town, Virginia. As on the former occasion, he was
treated with all imaginable kindness; and, being released on parole,
returned to Europe early in 1782, and proceeded by way of Cork,
Dublin, and Greenock to Edinburgh, where he abode for a short time.
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